KEITH MOTT
Writes about winning fanciers past and present
Ponderosa Winners
I visited the Ponderosa UK Stud twice in 2014. The first time was to organize an article on the Stud’s new premises and the second was while I was on holiday in July, and that was to visit two premier Dorset fanciers, Charlie Riley and Tony Swain, who had won premier National and Classic positions with the Ponderosa pigeons. The original plan was to visit the new Ponderosa UK Stud for the first time in February, but with high winds and flooding at the time, the day out in Weymouth had to be canceled. We were to meet up with Mike and Edna Shepherd, who were down on the south coast for a few days for a break and I was to take photos for this article. I finally made the 130 mile drive down to Dorset for the first visit with my ol’ mates, Peter Taylor and Terry Haley, at the back end of March and the wait was well worth it, as the weather was brilliant. I have had a great relationship with the Stud owners, Tony Hayne and Mary Bartlett, since the early 1990’s and was looking forward to the visit very much, as it had been a number of years since I had seen these two very nice people. The Ponderosa UK Stud moved ‘lock stock and barrel’ into a new facility in September 2009 and the brand new complete must be described as fantastic. The new site is just along the lane from the old Ponderosa site and the new pigeon living quarters are a carbon copy of the old. The original 26 breeding sections, including automatic cleaning nest box were relocated in the new site, as was the 20 holding flights which house the birds for sale. The only new facility in the pigeon breeding quarters is the under floor cleaning, which are deep pits under a wooden slatted floor, and this is cleaned out at regular times. The ventilation in the whole Stud is brilliant and the inmates looked in ‘mint’ condition and wonderful health.
Tony Swain of Dorchester
The Ponderosa has a very long list top winners with their bloodlines over many years and the latest was put up by Tony Swain of Dorchester in the 2014 racing season. He recorded 1st open Central Southern Classic Flying Club Yearling Derby from Messac with his good blue hen ‘Elaine’ and she was bred at the Ponderosa UK Stud, from their Ad Schaerlaeckens bloodlines. Her dam ‘6374248’ is full sister to a cock that is responsible for 1st open BBC National Vire in 2010. A great line of Schaerlaeckens stock birds breeding National and Classic winners in the UK. As a young bird in 2013, ‘Elaine’ flew her first race from Maggotsfield on the north road and a week later flew Guernsey on the south road with Central Southern Classic Flying Club. This game little hen was one of a small batch of youngsters obtained from the Ponderosa UK Stud and she has won several prizes, with the highlights being: 1st open CSCFC Yearling Derby Messac, 10th section, 22nd open CSCFC Messac (2641 birds). I visited Tony’s loft in Dorchester and he describes his set up as ‘eco’, with the lofts being very basic and set in a very rural area of Dorset. We went out of the back door of the Swain’s farm type house and had the walk 100 yards through a field containing pigs, sheep and chickens, too reach his lofts, which were sited against the back brick wall of the village church. Tony is a long distance enthusiast and has won many prizes through the years from all the main race points including, Barcelona, Pau and Tarbes. One of Tony’s best pigeons in recent years was his good blue chequer cock, ‘Reliable’, and his wonderful performances must give him a champion status, winning: 2009: 1st Weydor SFC, 1st section, 87th open NFC Tarbes 529 miles (3,808 birds): 2010: 6th Weydor SFC, 20th section, 56th open CSCFC Tarbes (606 birds): 2011: 1st Weydor SFC, 4th section, 401st open NFC Tarbes (3,290 birds), 1st Weydor SFC, 3rd section, 18th open BBC Bordeaux 410 miles (935 birds), 1st Weydor SFC, 2nd section, 263rd open NFC Saintes 352miles (4,131 birds).
Charlie Riley of Blandford Forum
Another fancier who has been very successful with the Ponderosa UK Stud bloodlines in recent seasons is Charlie Riley of Dorchester and he recorded 1st, 2nd section, 1st, 2nd open NFC Fougeres (7,054 birds) in 2012. Charlie’s Fougeres National winner was his champion blue cock, ‘Olympic Flame’, and he is down from the very successful De Klak / ‘Bartoli’ bloodlines, and this wonderful cock has now been retired to the stock loft. The second bird on the ETS from Fougeres was the blue cock, ‘Maggie’s Boy’, and he was bred from Ponderosa De Klak / ‘Bartoli’ stock birds. This game cock has a won several premier positions for the Riley loft including: 2012: 2nd Weydor SFC, 2nd section, 2nd open NFC Fougeres, 3rd Weydor SFC, 9th section, 78th open NFC Cholet: 2013: 5th section, 121st open BBC Le Mans. Charlie says winning 1st and 2nd National is his biggest thrill in his 40 years in the sport of pigeon racing. Two wonderful De Klak racing cocks!
When visiting Charlie’s home in Blandford Forum I was amazed to see his old bird racing loft in his front garden and the stock and young bird lofts in the back yard. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone’s loft in their front garden! Needless to say the Riley loft set up was very smart, with the 30ft old bird loft being completely close down with Perspex windows for the widowhood system. Charlie tells me, good ventilation is paramount in good loft design and he has never used deep litter on the loft floors. He races twenty cocks on a basic widowhood system and these racers are mated up at the end of January, with National and Classic racing in mind. The cocks only get two or three 20 mile training tosses to kick the season off and they are never broken down during the racing season. Charlie told me he never shows the hens on marking night and the length of time the cocks get their mates on their return on race day, depends on the length of the race, the longer the race, the longer the hens stay in the nest boxes. The cocks race the whole of the early programme in preparation for the later races and then they race every two weeks up to 350 miles. The racers are fed on mostly Versalaga ‘Super Widowhood’ mixture and get the normal grit and minerals. Three other premier racing cocks at the Blandford loft are: the blue cock, ‘219’ who was also bred from Ponderosa UK Stud stock birds and he recorded in the 2014 racing season: 1st section, 10th open NFC Messac. The handsome blue pied cock, ‘926’, has won: 2014: 1st section, 3rd open CSCFC Messac, 3rd section, 69th open NFC Saintes: 2013: 8th section, 109th open NFC Carentan, 20th section, 247th open NFC Saintes, 19th section, 115th open BBC Niort, plus other positions and the blue cock, ‘514’, is the winner of five top prizes including: 2013: 3rd section, 10th open CSCFC Messac: 11th section, 98th open NFC Cholet.
Charlie has 24 pairs of stock birds and these are mostly De Klak bloodlines, with a couple of pairs of Delbars and Kirkpatricks for the long distance. The breeders are paired up in December and are houses in big brick built loft with flight at the back of the property. They are fed on low maintenance food, purchased from the Ponderosa Stud and Charlie tells me, one of his top stock pairs have bred four separate section winners. He breeds between 50 and 100 young birds to race each year and they are fed on a general mixture. The babies are put on the ‘darkness’ system and get about five training tosses up to 30 miles before the first race. When they come off the ‘dark’ in June they are raced naturally to the perch. Charlie is not into inbreeding his family of birds and told me the moult period is very important and calls for special feeding once the birds are split for the winter.
Charlie was born in Bridgewater, Somerset and his mother was a keen pigeon fancier. When he was a lad he was interested in athletics, particularly cross country running and won prizes running for the school and county. He has always liked pigeon all his life and got his first racing birds in 1974, and these were a pair from Colin Garth of Shaftesbury and a pair from Bill Hands of Shillingstone. The two Crossways club members, George Dench and Reggie Isles help him get started and his first big prize was 2nd Berwick in the big young bird open race. Charlie’s first birds were Kirkpatrick, which he housed in a 8ft x 6ft shed and won prizes racing up to Thurso in the Dorchester club. He says his early mistakes were the normal ones, bad training and over feeding.
He is a self-employed gardener / maintenance man and says his partner, Maggie, is very keen and is a great help with the pigeons, including the training. Sprint / middle distance racing is preferred and Maggie says their family’s race well up to about 270 miles, with most of their racing being from France. Charlie says he has no real opinion on the eyesign theory and has shown, and won prize at the local club event, but dedicates himself to racing his pigeons. He told me he thinks the sport has definitely improved in the last 20 years and if he could he would stop mid-day liberations, and introduce control on birds of prey. He maintains ‘you only get out want you put in’ and says the partnership who do it best is Bill and Bryan Woods of Shaftsbury, who he rates as the best local fanciers.
That’s it for this week! I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480 or my new email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
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